The Maelstrom Chronicles
by Driver Jim Ohki
Summary: Obvious AU; Warnings and Keywords within; Minor Crossover/Fusion. Eight year old Naruto finds the ruins of a certain city, and in those ruins he finds a small piece of his very distant past. The Narutoverse diverges from this point and never really looks back. Pairings/Romance come later.
1. Part One

Disclaimer: I make no claims at ownership of any copyrighted characters, places or events used herein. The only thing I make a claim to is this fic, which originated in my head and any original characters created by me herein. The following was made for public consumption at zero profit, and is not for sale except to the owning companies. Yes, I dream big.

_**ALTERNATE TIMELINE/UNIVERSE WARNING**_: Because mid to late teenagers are more in touch with reality -when they stop substituting their own, at any rate- than pre/early teens, I have advanced canon by three years while holding to events. This means the Rookie Nine (Naruto's Class) are FIFTEEN while Team Gai is SIXTEEN. I'm of the belief that it's too much to ask for with a younger ninja-child to take their profession seriously . . . no matter who the Sensei is.

_**Special Notes**_: Writer's block sucks. That's all there is to say about that. Same goes for hardware failures and backups not . . . backing up as they should. Ugh, Epic Fail. So, I direct your attention to the ever changing profile to avoid the Author's Note that won't apply after a while.

_**The Question:**_ What would happen to the Narutoverse if he discovered relics of the past? A past so old that not even myths have survived the tests of time?

_**Keywords:**_ Crossover, Ridiculous!Power, Bashing, Smarter!Naruto, Materia!God!Naruto, Grey!Naruto, FirstTsurugi!Naruto, Ass-hat!Sasuke, Wimp!Sakura, Worn-out!Sandaime, Harem, Violence, Character Injury/Death, Bad Jokes, Language.

The Maelstrom Chronicles, Part One

By: (Driver) Jim Ohki

_**Forests outside Konoha; May 24, 8 **__**A**__**fter **__**K**__**yuubi**_

There were times in Naruto Uzumaki's life that he found peace. While always fleeting, the moments of quiet gave him time to reflect on his troubles if he so chose. Most of the time he ignored his issues, preferring instead to lighten his mood by pranking those that had truly done him wrong.

That was one of the many things about his personality that seemed to escape the notice of everybody else. He did know the difference of right and wrong, always picking the targets of humiliation carefully and going to great lengths so that only said targets were effected by his petty revenge.

Labeling it such showed yet another part of him that few rarely noticed. He was not dumb or stupid by any stretch of the imagination. Since he understood the concept he wanted to be a ninja for his village, which came with the first lesson on the greatest tool at their disposal.

Deception.

It was a work of art, how deep his went. Everybody from the Hokage down would be literally looking at him one way while he was doing something else right under their nose. He was a master at misdirection and confusion, leaving migraines in his wake. Well, that and paperwork which always earned the ire of the Old Man.

Not feeling like causing terror to the masses, today was a day for Naruto to connect with nature. While his mind wandered from subject to subject without guidance, he simply walked amongst the trees to the north of Konoha. This area was deserted, leaving him with a sense of security and safety that was a rarity in itself near the villagers. He had never understood why he had ANBU guarding him, nor did he really care. As their job called for zero interaction with their charge unless necessary he didn't know a single one of them personally. What mattered most to Naruto was that they unwittingly gave him great evasion training as he would come up with new ways to escape their care and see how long it took them to find him again.

The longest he had managed to date had been an entire day. For some reason those masked ninja were getting worse instead of better, almost as if they were being converted into cannon-fodder. One was especially bad, always being late by a minimum of two hours for his shift.

Plenty of time to slip away unnoticed into the trees north of the Monument.

His journey didn't last long, emerging from the tree-line he found himself on the edge of a rather large crater. He knew instantly where he had wandered off to as there was only one such crater this close to the village.

The Kyuubi's _Bijuudama_ had made this massive dish in the ground. The bottom was some two hundred meters down, at the center of where the ball of power had exploded. The floor curved upwards as it neared the walls, making a bowl shape with cliffs a mere five meters vertical before tapering towards the center. Life had yet to return to the unnatural formation, leaving it barren and dreary. This was in contrast to the fact that it was a very nice day with the sun shining and a light breeze keeping the air fresh.

The sound of falling rock caught his attention, eyes quickly scanning the crater for the cause. There, on the other side was an opening. It went fairly deep into the ground, if the fact that the back wall couldn't be seen with the sun shining into the hole. Curious yet cautious he made his way down into the crater.

Twenty minutes later the Shinobi in training felt his curiosity waning. Getting into the cave had been easy, yet it appeared that the tunnel was endless as it kept on going and it was getting harder to see the further away from a light source he was. Several other ideas had crept into his mind though, such as with some torches this would make an excellent hideout from the occasional villager that let their emotions get away from them. With some work he could make a training area in here, one that would give him privacy so that nobody would have any idea just how strong he was.

Just as he was about to give up and turn around did the tunnel suddenly widen into a bigger space. Eyes squinting in an effort to see his surroundings, Naruto found himself in the last place he would have ever thought of.

The petrified remains of a church.

This place had to be Holy Ground to have survived for however long it had been here. There was even a hole in the ceiling letting in light on a patch of flowers that looked out of place with the ruins. Having come in through the remains of the back wall, he carefully navigated around the flower patch so as not to disturb the harmony he felt in this place before stepping through the front door.

Well, no need to dig a cavern out when there was one already in place! It was the jackpot: a rusted structure overhead had prevented the earth from retaking the area under it, instead creating the plateau that was Konoha's northern defense. There were vast piles of junk strewn about, as if they had been placed there without a care as to going through them later. Most of the piles were fused together over time as moss had grown on the metal before the moisture within caused rust and decay to finish the job.

His right foot kicked a loose piece of steel that he hadn't seen, drawing his eyes downward. It was a sign of some kind, one that was still readable even after who knew how long.

_Midgar Under-Plate Sector Five_.

What an odd name for the place. His mind started working on the possibilities while his legs carried him back towards the church. The number was a dead giveaway that there were other spaces like this one to be explored once he found them. It would take time, he knew, away from training and otherwise being a ninja but there was something about stumbling across something that no-one else had that tickled his fancy.

Upon returning to the church, Naruto found that the light from the sun had shifted from the garden to . . . oh dear. Clapping his hands twice, he bowed his head in respect and gave a prayer for the unknown warrior that he had missed the first time he came through here.

The Church, as he named it for reference, had not wanted to let go of its' last champion. While the clothing was long since rotted away, most likely with the tissue of the warrior, propped up against one of the massive pillars was a sun bleached white and petrified skeleton. From what little he knew of anatomy from the Academy, the remains were complete as there were no missing bones that he could see. It almost looked like this was the place that the unknown had chosen to die, having lived his life and helped those he could.

Powerful stuff right there. As a warrior in training he wanted to be just like this fellow, having done everything he could in his lifetime before returning to a special place for his final rest. Yes, that was up there on his list right under being Hokage. Not that he would say that to anybody, as it was nobody else's business.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, he chakra was having an effect on his surroundings. As he had almost zero control thanks to the circumstances of his birth and nobody willing to teach him such control, he was always saturating areas he lurked in. This was what led to his paranoia about ghosts. The life energy he leaked was enough to give those that had lingered form if he stayed in the same spot long enough, which he had deduced on his own when he had noticed the specters of the past trying to get his attention.

Here, in a place that had been touched by the Life-stream and thus Nature Energy the effect was much quicker than normal.

"So, somebody has found this place," the quiet voice might as well have shouted with the way the boy made an effort to leave his skin behind.

"Who-," Naruto took in that the man that had appeared was transparent; the identifier of ghosts everywhere. Steeling his resolve, he tried again only going for a much politer approach. "I'm sorry for entering this sacred place. Can you tell me . . . anything?" The pause at the end was for proper wording, for it would be downright rude to just blurt questions at a ghost.

"I like you already," the unknown man didn't raise his voice, instead sitting down on a fallen pillar. The kid was at least humble and aware of his surroundings if he could detect that he was on Holy Ground. "My name is Cloud Strife, and I died here fifty thousand years ago. I have waited for this day, when the right person that would find my . . . the end of my journey would come along. It's strange though, it almost appears like I'm looking into a mirror . . . Tifa, what didn't you tell me?"

As Cloud had talked, he had become more opaque letting Naruto get a good look at the man. He felt his jaw come unhinged when he realized that they looked very similar, minus a few traits from those that had been the other half of their DNA. Even though the shade of the man appeared to be in no more than his early forties his eyes gave away that he had lived longer . . . much longer.

"I can see it in your eyes, even if it's been weakened over the generations," the elder blond continued, sharp eyes scrutinizing the boy in front of him. "The Mako infusion must have grafted itself into my genes, passing it on down the line. While the other benefits have disappeared or not yet awakened what's left might just be enough to use Materia at a high level . . . and I've lost you already."

"I don't believe anybody uses this Materia anymore," the younger of the two twiddling his thumbs, trying to not offend the man that was at least talking to him. "The ninja do everything with hand-signs; well, the throwing elements around stuff anyway. The same with the Healers, they also contort their hands into odd shapes which then glow green before they put them where it hurts."

"Internalized Mako usage then?" Cloud was off into thought, trying to figure out what had changed about the world. Having chosen to remain near his . . . remains, he had missed many of the events that had shaped the rest of the world. Something must have happened to the Life-stream, causing it to once again rise out of the planet's crust only this time saturating the humans with its' power.

"Boy," he abruptly called out, bringing the attention of his presumed descendent back onto his ghostly visage. "There is much in the world that has changed since my time. I can sense unrest in the air, as if Nature itself is in the process of holding its' breath waiting for something unnatural to happen. You, my potential living progeny, need training for whatever it is that has the planet on edge will no doubt involve you. Make no mistake, my training style is harsh. You will have to push yourself to the very edge of the Abyss every day to be up to my standards. In time, I will make you into my successor."

He paused for dramatic effect, even going so far as to give the most serious look he could.

"But first! What's your name?"

_Ho boy, this was going to take a while_, Naruto thought from his new position face-down in the dirt . . .

_**Church Ruins, Seven Years Later, 1800 (May 24, 15 AK)**_

Seven years of pure hell for one Naruto Uzumaki were coming to a close. It had not been easy, training in parallel at the Academy with Cloud-sensei. The man had delivered on his promise, being one of the strictest task-masters he had ever encountered. A byproduct was that his energy levels were low enough during lessons that he could sit still and learn from Iruka.

Well, that and he was just too tired to pull off any worthy pranks.

Having heard a reference to the special group of sword-users in Kiri, he had to wonder if they too had undergone such intense training. If they did, they were just as insane as he was. Everything he had put his body through had paid off though, as he could use two of the three Academy basic jutsu with such ease that he didn't even need the hand-seals nor did he leave any traces such as puffs of smoke. His grades in other subjects had come up, what with having a tutor that finally taught him how to read properly alongside how to write.

With the mastering of the _Henge_ did entire new worlds open up for the blond pariah. He could now shop, browse the library and do every other activity that the rest of Konoha took for granted without being hassled such as buying clothes that didn't act as a beacon. Having access to much better food led to an early growth spurt, skyrocketing from the three foot eight shrimp he had been to six foot two. Without looking it, thanks in part to wielding the completed _First Tsurugi_, his strength was incredible.

Only one skill continued to elude him: that blasted _Bunshin_ jutsu. Even with access to real training material, including chakra control, he just could not for the life of him make the illusion clones work. He even tried making more than one, resulting in a success in the millions.

Literally.

That was far too many yet nothing he could do to trim the numbers worked. If he aimed for less than two million illusions over an area of two kilometers then he got those sickly, half-dead looking abominations.

It was maddening.

Even his teacher was confused as to why he had so much chakra that it overloaded such a basic technique to the point of outright ridiculousness. It was a shame too, for the young man showed so much potential it wasn't even funny. His Materia usage was mastered to a level Cloud had never achieved in life, being able to fire off near endless amounts of the elements and everything else without tiring. Unfortunately, Nature had never seen fit to give birth to a Materia that had a cloning ability such as what the humans these days had.

"Naruto," the elder blond was as quiet and serious as ever, "it is time for drastic measures. While you have come as close to mastering everything else I've thrown at you as you can, you know that it'll become moot if you don't graduate again."

"You don't have to tell me Jiji," was the equally quiet response from the once loud living blond. "I guess I have a mission tonight then: sneak into the Shinobi Library and see if I can find something . . . anything that will help me. Easy enough to do with the Gennin section but the others have much better security. I'll have to be quick as the Graduation Exam is in two weeks."

"You've learned all that I have to teach," Cloud looked at his protégé, a rare heartfelt smile adorning his features, "and as such it's about time for me to move on. I'm sure the others have grown very irritated with me for dilly-dallying this long . . . heh. Dilly-dally, shilly-shally indeed."

"Circle of life and all of that, huh?" the young man had turned away to the right, not wanting his ancestor to see him cry at a time like this. The past seven years have been some of the best of his life, having met a probable member of his family and found acceptance with him. It was going to be hard going back to being alone.

"You're never alone boy!" he had read his emotions quite easily, even with having nothing but the back of his head to look at. "We've gone over this many times now. Start with your own generation, or even those after, to gain what you seek the most. The older one gets the more into their ways they are set. Things will happen, and how you handle them will result in either those that are more often than not unimportant background filler coming around or not."

"I hear you, Jiji," Naruto gave his own watery smile, showing that while he understood the fact that one of his precious people was leaving him hurt him deeply.

"Good," Cloud felt that leaving well enough alone would work in this instance. "Now then, there is a secret compartment in that pillar that I . . . held up over the years. In it you'll find infantile Materia of every type. While the Mastered ones give you the most abilities it's better to 'grow' your own. Gives a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when they Master then Spawn by your hard work. The only one that I recommend taking that is fully grown is the Enemy Skill as it will provide you with a range of attacks not seen since my time."

"How am I supposed to equip all of these at the same time?" Naruto had paid attention to everything the elder blond had said yet could not recall ever touching this topic.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, beyond the slots I had you get created into your clothing," was the completely unhelpful response from the longtime resident of the ruins. Like any good teacher, he wasn't going to just give out every answer on a platter. No, he would guide his pupil in the right direction and let him work it out on his own. It was a help to the young Uzumaki's false bravado and confidence when he could get the answer this way, proving that he wasn't as stupid as his mask made him out to be.

"Go get started on your mission Naruto," he continued on a different topic. "Your goal is to graduate, you have almost all of the tools to make it happen. Once you acquire what you're missing it should be a piece of cake. And who knows, you might just find the answer to a question or two along the way."

"Thank you Sensei, for everything," the apprentice to one of the greatest warriors ever bowed in gratitude before making his way out of the Church. He knew that when he returned to his private training grounds his mentor, sensei and father –with many greats and a grand- would be gone.

In two weeks, Konoha had better be prepared to get a load of him.

_**Naruto's Apartment; Two days before Graduation; 1700**_

His self-appointed mission into the Shinobi Library had resulted in success of the goldmine variety. While the heist took longer than he wished, the fact that he had pulled it off left a sense of satisfaction behind.

Once he had returned from the Academy the day after his 'borrowing', he had gotten his illicit gains out of their hiding spot and started reading. One was a compilation of clone techniques by the Shodaime Hokage of all people, a little journal that had been misplaced next to the other find. An introduction to _Fuuinjutsu_ penned by the Yondaime.

Jackpot!

With his improved –still bordering on terrible, but better than none- chakra control Naruto was breezing through the _Bunshin_ manual. He had _Tsuchi, Mizu _and_ Kami_ (Paper) _Bunshin_ down to a science while he was missing something to get the _Raiton _and_ Doton _clones working.

Rather than get frustrated by that, he turned his attention to the book on sealing techniques. At first it was about as dry as _Kaze no Kuni_, but as it picked up the pace it seemed to change from a teaching manual to a journal that had errors, mishaps, bloopers and general other things not to do when trying one's hand at _Fuuinjutsu_.

Whoever would have thought that there was a seal that could be tuned to a single person so that whenever they walked by there was a loud and wet noise that suspiciously sounded like a fart . . . or that the target just crapped themselves.

Huh, who was this Kushina person and why did she figure so predominately in this book? Oh, an Uzumaki . . .

Naruto went to bed early, having fainted when he read that.

_**Academy; Next Morning; 0800**_

Iruka Umino knew the clock was ticking. Naruto had been silent for seven years already in regards to a prank, and many thought that he had given up that hobby as a bad job. Something had changed in the blond those years ago, almost as if he found somebody to teach him the things he had been lacking in.

While at first he had the boy in his class intermittently as per the rotation of Chuunin Sensei's at the Academy he inevitably got the class with the Heirs and Uzumaki. He was no slouch, knowing that the reason young Naruto had failed twice was his inability to make a clone –or three- of himself. Without a sponsor like Maito Gai to 'push' him into service the lack of that one skill was holding him back.

Even though the hidden _Jinchuuriki_ produced coronas of blue every time he tapped into his chakra, it never dawned on Iruka that he needed chakra control comparable to a medic to make a regular _Bunshin_. It was an instance of common sense escaping notice, something that happened to everybody everywhere more often than they'd like to admit.

With the Graduation Exams approaching, it was review time for everything learned since training began. As the sensei to these kids Iruka had given a silent nod of support when the age limit for graduation was raised. First it had been thirteen, then fourteen and now was at fifteen. After the events of Itachi Uchiha going berserk slaughtering his clan the Ruling Council agreed that the prevention of another rising to fall as he had was a must.

The Academy did far more than simply train those wanting to join the Shinobi Military. After all, it was far more productive –and cheaper, not having to hire extra teachers- if they taught everything from reading, writing, math so on and so forth. Thus, the process took longer as the age-appropriate review took place.

Naruto strolled through the door, breaking the class Sensei out of his thoughts and bringing silence to his fellow students. Under normal circumstances he had flown under the radar of the class, not bothering to bring any attention to himself when there were far more important things to do.

How he did that wearing orange was a mystery.

Today, something about him seemed to have changed. It wasn't just the fact that he had lost the orange in favor of a navy blue body suit, the top half of which was under a cargo shirt that had pockets just about everywhere. The bottom half also adorned multitudes of storage space, along with his twelve kunai holster on his right thigh and a shuriken pouch on his left.

Even his now normal calm, cool and collected expression checked out. No, it was the look in his eyes, like he had stumbled across something that had earned his complete attention and felt that he should have known earlier.

"Iruka-sensei," he hadn't even tried to climb the stairs to his usual seat in the uppermost row on the right hand side, "do you by chance remember the name Kushina?"

"That's a name I haven't heard in a long time," he admitted, looking intently at his student. "What brought this on?"

"What was her clan name?" the blond looked just as fierce as his teacher.

"Uzumaki . . .," and the light came on in Umino's mind. He gazed at his pupil, taking in his appearance and nearly had a heart attack. "Oh my Kami . . ."

"Hmmm, that confirms that," the younger make didn't want to elaborate to the rest of the eavesdropping students but gave just enough for the target of his statement to understand.

In his office, the Sandaime started sweating nervously as he watched the interaction on his crystal ball. Of course the boy would stumble onto the bigger of two secrets about himself.

"Just . . . go, sit down," Iruka had a hunch that the Hokage would be calling soon for the both of them. Naruto to talk to him, to try to justify his position and Iruka himself for saying something he shouldn't.

Shit. What a way to start the day . . .

Lessons carried on as usual, even with the sulking –he refused to actually brood like the Uchiha- Naruto giving off an aura of death that was intensifying every hour he had to wait for the Old Man to summon him. It had gotten so bad a raincloud had formed _indoors_ and was threatening to douse the students in a torrential downpour.

"Gah!" Kiba had enough of the gloom coming from the far corner, interrupting the review on the rise of the Sannin. "I can't concentrate with Baka-Blond brooding worse than Uchiha!"

His outburst was enough to set the other students –minus the still sleeping Shikamaru- into a tizzy of complaints and insults directed at said blond. The target of their ire simply gazed at his classmates, taking mental notes on who was silent. He did notice the Hyuuga in the room giving him a sad look, her eyes saying what her mouth couldn't.

"That is enough!" Iruka roared, head inflated to extra-large proportions. "Leave him be, he's learned . . ."

"He can be taught?" the quiet voice of Sasuke still managed to override the class Sensei, earning quite a few laughs from the boys and inane giggling from most of the girls.

"Itachi left you alive, why?" Naruto's comeback silenced everybody as he had gone for the proverbial jugular. The most taboo subject to bring up in the survivor's presence had been breached now and there was no going back.

The target of his barb went back to brooding on how he would get enough strength to kill his brother, using it as a means to refuse to cry for the words had hurt. The fact that Naruto had just placed himself as number two on the must die list wasn't lost on him either.

"Just stop, both of you," Iruka knew he had to get control of the situation before a free-for-all erupted in his classroom. "Graduation is tomorrow and there is still so much that we have to go over . . ."

"I think we have the theoretical down, Sensei," Naruto had had enough of the sitting around. He needed to vent on something soon, lest he give in to the urge to break out his new toy and imitating Zabuza Momochi's graduation.

"Really?" Iruka wasn't completely disbelieving of the statement, rather he was intrigued that the answer to the lethargic class was just presented to him. Perhaps the lectures were out of hand anymore.

"Don't get me wrong; the history of the Sannin is just fascinating," the sarcasm of the blond was lost on no-one, "but the relevancy of it when on a mission is close to nil. Our practical skills on the other hand, well those are far more important I believe. That is, if we want to survive out there in the world."

The Chuunin teacher winced at the veiled truth. It was a harsh place to live in, what with ninja running around all over the place. Rogues were always looking for a quick buck and/or a quick fuck, to be lewd about it.

"All right," the man conceded knowing that he lost the battle. "Front and center, all of you. Practical skills quiz!"

"Thanks a lot Naruto," Ino Yamanaka whined, having to do something other than sit at her desk pining over the class crush.

"You'll thank me for this when you get out of a bad situation," his retort struck a nerve with his fellow blond.

It was maddening to the gossips of the class. Over the past seven years the boy had seemingly lost his energy while he effectively grew up, becoming a student who took things seriously. Nobody knew _who_ to credit with this miracle of miracles though, which as always set the Shinobi populace on edge as unknowns operating under their nose usually equated to spies or saboteurs.

Iruka Umino was a thorough man. Whenever he did something he put his all into it, including how he conducted his quizzes. While Mizuki skulked in a corner, being as unobtrusive as he could since the class was ignoring him, the scarred man started with flexibility. Most would scoff at the most basic of basics, however he felt that the level of a student's contortions showed how much they trained.

Those that couldn't reach their toes after five years where shown the door.

Naruto stared impassively as his classmates were called up in alphabetical order by family name. As much as he hated it, he was stuck between the duck-feathers hair of Sasuke and the ten-year-grow-time pony tail of Ino. Making a mental game of it every time a prospective Kunoichi was called up, he let his teenage hormones out of their usual confines.

'_Bah, nothing there!'_

'_Seen better curves on a two-by-four.'_

'_Here we go! Wait, did her coat just move?'_

Hinata Hyuuga had been hiding much it seemed. Brushing off his mental insult to Sakura Haruno, he focused a bit more of his attention on the bluenette as she folded herself in half.

'_Yes, her coat moved! What the hell is she packing in there, melons?!'_

Everybody else was oblivious to the thoughts going through his head, each in their own zone. With the students facing him, Iruka had no idea that he was giving the young men a good show with the Kunoichi as he was focused on the task at hand. He looked over the back of the Hyuuga Heiress only to find Naruto with his eyes glued on her backside. It took more than he was willing to admit to keep the smirk from showing as his quasi-little brother discovered girls.

Ah, to be young and foolish again.

Time moved on, each student proving that they did something outside of the Academy other than lounge around. Even Chouji Akamichi could turn himself into a pretzel on command, which said a lot for the Chuunin Instructors over the years. It was noted that if the rotund boy was a pretzel, Naruto could contort into a twisted jumble that defied logic.

The irony of the thought was lost on none that had it.

Having warmed up, the students followed the scarred man outside to the practice range. As per the norm, Sasuke took this opportunity to show off his amazing ability to revel in attention without looking like he was reveling in attention. At the same time, he ignored the masses of useless flesh that tried to claim they were female forget Kunoichi in training; knowing that he set them off every time he so much as farted never-mind doing something actually worthy of praise.

Following the script, those same things disguised as most of the girls harassed Naruto when his turn came up. Nobody could understand the logic that they followed, not even themselves so in typical teenage fashion they ignored their confusion.

Naruto let his irritation show for the first time in years. There were times he forgot his strength, usually in situations like this where his emotions were anything but calm. Handed a set of kunai that were in severe disrepair by Mizuki –who thought he was slick, yet his ploy was seen by all- the blond momentarily seemed to lose his right arm it moved so fast.

Anything can and will pierce anything else with enough blunt force. The training dummy downrange a hundred yards could attest to that as the kunai had hit their targets handle first yet still sunk in deep enough for just the blade to be sticking out, creating a vertical spike trap.

Absolute silence. Even the background critters were in a state of awe and horror for if that had been a living body . . .

Across the village Anko Mitarashi felt the urge to praise someone for coming up with a new, painful way to die.

There was no way Iruka could fail that effort. Even though, on inspection, the blond should have never been handed those weapons he had still made them work, in an unorthodox manner. Mizuki on the other hand felt he had gone on long enough that day without dishing some torment out to the village pariah.

"Uzumaki, fail! That was even more pathetic than usual! Get out of here and don't come back until tomorrow!" the bellow of the assistant instructor earned him 'are you stupid' looks from not only the students and Iruka, but every other person that was passing the training fields.

Including the Hokage.

"I think not," the gravelly voice of the Sandaime washed over the area, earning the attention of all. What had their eyes widening in surprise was the Killing Intent the village leader was flooding the place with. "Out there in the world, a kill is a kill no matter the method. I can see the damage from here, had that been a live target . . . well, it wouldn't be now. Mizuki, follow."

The Chuunin was terrified and with good reason. Equally known with the hatred was the fact that Hiruzen Sarutobi had a soft spot for Naruto, and if somebody did something stupid in his presence . . .

Time for some fast talking.

As the pair moved off to the side for a one-sided discussion on how to teach properly, Iruka came out of his surprise from not only Naruto's performance but the unscheduled visit of the Hokage. Taking a look around revealed a cluster of civilian parents having been on a tour of the Academy in a recruiting drive. Only a few looked absolutely frightened by the showing of the blond boy, the rest were more confused as to why the Sensei had behaved as he had. That was a good sign, although the possibility that they were new to Konoha and had no information on young Uzumaki was more likely.

Moving on after Ino had her turn, even if nowhere near as impressive as Naruto, the class went to the Taijutsu training area for the spars. Usually it was separated boys and girls; yet knowing that prospective entrants were watching Iruka felt that a mixed spar would be a good idea and that having Naruto go first was even better.

"Hyuuga, Uzumaki! Front and center!"

For his part, the blond was ecstatic for the chance. A portion of the grade was on grappling, something that he intended to take full advantage of.

"Hajime!" he barked as soon as the pair had bowed to each other. He had noticed that the young Heiress was blushing up a storm while poking her index fingers together.

Her lack of action quickly came to an end when Naruto _moved_. The watching tour group, the rest of the class, even Iruka lost sight of the boy for a moment. Hinata was spooked into motion by this, subconsciously activating her _Byakugan_ for the first time without aid. Seeing him coming, she sent forth a right palm strike only to watch as he slipped under the stretched appendage and into her defense.

"EEP!" her squeak was the loudest any had ever heard anything come from her mouth as her face turned a deep shade of red before she fainted. The cause of this was behind her, his arms wrapped around her body with his left hand getting a fistful of her right breast while his right was grabbing the other.

"Huh, who knew?" Naruto mused to nobody, still holding Hinata up so that she didn't get a face full of dirt. He got annoyed quickly with his fellows, standing around gawking at him when he wanted to let go. "Somebody wanna come get her? This is awkward enough."

He ducked as Sakura sailed by overhead, right leg extended in a flying kick as she bellowed "PERVERT!" to the world.

"Oh, a threesome eh?" he taunted, feeling the rising ire of the girls. "Or perhaps a moresome? Yeah baby, I'm game."

Iruka suddenly found himself holding the out-of-it Hyuuga while his favorite student went to work demolishing the fan-girls. He took notice that the blond kept his hands to himself with the others, only attacking areas when the opening presented itself.

"Damn it Naruto!" Ino raged as her ass throbbed from the rather violent knife-hand he delivered as he twirled around her. She made the mistake of trying a high kick with him, opening up a direct shot to the crotch.

"We are ninja!" he roared, punching Sakura where her right breast should be only to have his earlier thought confirmed. "You want a clean, fair fight?! Go be a Samurai!"

He ducked as yet another girl, one he never bothered to learn the name of, tried again for a headshot which he was having none of. He snagged her out of mid-air before spiking her like a football into the turf with his right arm.

This brought the boys into the melee.

"Hmmm," Naruto took in the reinforcements with a calm look, talking to no-one. "Imminent demise? Yeah. Sharp objects? Yep. Bring it on."

Iruka watched from the sidelines as a Battle Royale erupted during his class. He would have interfered by this point had he not had his arms full of Hyuuga. Every time somebody tried to arm themselves the blond was there taking their weapon away and chucking it into the empty target range, keeping the fight to Taijutsu . . . well, there was not much form so that was inaccurate. Perhaps going with a street-brawl . . .? Yeah, that sounded good.

Actually, looking at the roiling mass of flesh it was fairly obvious that the Academy style was a joke. Everybody was moving in ways that felt more natural to them instead of forcing themselves to hold to the katas.

Leave it to the Uchiha to get fed up with making no progress during a fight, breaking out the Ninjutsu.

"**Katon:**-," was as far as he got as his enemy was having none of that.

"**Ice**," Naruto threw both hands forward, ending with them clapped together vertically making it look like he was pointing at his target. Being a single target, none of the surrounding students who suddenly stopped at the simple name were included in the counter. Sasuke, on the other hand, made for a lovely lawn gnome. His expression was one of surprise as he froze solid.

"That's enough of that," the blond had produced a massive zanbato from somewhere, wielding it with one hand like it weighed nothing. Looking closely from an observers point of view it almost looked like it could turn into many weapons.

Kiba hadn't quite caught on that the fight was over, running on instinct as he went for another pass of the boy that once held his class ranking. As a reward for his efforts, he got the broadside of the giant sword across the face sending him into dream-land.

"Score: Uzumaki fifty-eight, Rest of Class: two."

"How did that happen?" Iruka had given up on understanding the method to the madness and was just grateful that it had stopped. Other than bruises to the exterior and ego there was nothing permanent left in the wake of the melee.

"Aburame has had his bugs on me the whole time," the answer was nonchalant, delivered with a stretch and yawn as if waking from a nap much to the surprise of Shino. The blond had indeed had quite a few of his Kikachu on his person yet looked fresh. "The other, Haruno farted in my direction nearly making me puke so I'll give points for being a ninja and finding ways to try to win."

"I did not!" the pinkette defended herself, red in the face from such an insinuation.

As if to disprove her own point, the back of her qipao dress started waving in the air from a wind generated within. The pitch changed, dropping into a range that made it sound like her butt cheeks were slapping together.

"Damned dango," she grumbled, completely unaware that she had just made an eternal enemy.

Anko Mitarashi growled in her throat across the village, for somebody had dared to insult the dango! Thinking back on her previous thought she would find whoever came up with the new painful death, learn it and then hunt down the naysayer to make them pay!

"Right, moving on . . .," Iruka deadpanned, knowing that the sixth sense of the second in command of Torture and Interrogation had gone off. He had had too many encounters of the close kind with the unhinged woman and knew that she would be gunning for the one that had insulted her favorite food.

_**Later that evening; Hokage's Office**_

"You outright lied to me," Naruto gave his newly patented Stare of Doom to the Hokage, who was sweating buckets.

The Old Man was no fool. He knew that if the blond on the other side of his desk actually got angry he would draw on the power of his tenant, intentional or not. Such action would have plenty of consequences, not the least of which would be a renewal by the Council to oust to boy from his village.

"I know why you did it," the younger man didn't ease the look up in the least. "That being said, it doesn't mean I have to like it. Instead of telling me you had "no idea" you could have told me that I would learn when the time was right, encouraging me to work harder at being a Shinobi instead of goofing off all the time. Before you open your mouth, if the words 'normal childhood' are even in the vicinity of your brain then you have _no clue_ who you're actually dealing with here."

"Naruto," the tone the Sandaime used gave all the rebuke he needed to.

"Hey, give me some credit here Jiji," the target of the newfound ire kept his Stare of Doom on full blast. "I am not rampaging around, burning everyone I see into piles of ash for letting their emotions get the best of them. That being said, no one of my . . . status . . . gets to have a 'normal childhood'. If we're not trained to be hidden weapons of mass destruction, we are shunned even though we keep the rest of the people around us alive with every breath we take."

"Fair enough," Sarutobi allowed the previous indiscretion to fall to the wayside. While he had earned the moniker 'Professor' there were still things that he had yet to learn. One such topic, as he discovered after erroneously telling the village about Naruto's burden, was just what _Jinchuuriki_ go through in their early years.

Jiraiya had done his job with his spy-ring, getting the identities of the other eight. One was insane, Two was ignored thanks to Eight being a hero, Three had gone off the deep end for no apparent reason. Four and Five had dropped off the grid. Six was shunned thanks to the actions of Three. Seven wasn't even allowed to be in her own village while Eight enjoyed his status thanks to being the only one to serve and survive in a Shinobi War.

"The question is, how did you find out?" the leader of Konoha came out of his thoughts to continue the conversation he really didn't want to have.

Naruto fidgeted, his tell that he knew something of rather great importance that the Hokage did not and was trying to decide if he should tell him. Hiruzen actually felt a pang of hurt and guilt at the action, making him wonder just how much trust the blond gave him.

_**Midgar Ruins**_

All thoughts about trust and the possible lack of fled Sarutobi's mind.

"This is the find of a lifetime!" the Hokage gawked at his surroundings. While it was getting dark out, Naruto had produced torches for illumination.

"This is my sanctuary," the younger of the two played tour guide, dropping the hint that he would like to keep this place under wraps. "Over here Jiji."

The quiet tone of his voice alerted the Sandaime to just how serious the situation was. While archeology and paleontology were his secret hobbies he knew he had to shelve his curiosity for the time being. His thoughts were confirmed when he saw the skeleton propped up against a pillar.

"I see," he had no need for an explanation from the young man. He had seen the results of what happened when the blond lurked in an area too long in his younger years. While stranger things had and will happen, being taught by a ghost of all things was right up there.

"He's the reason why I became what I am today," the young man kept his cool, aloof attitude going even if his expression softened, showing what he really felt. "If it weren't for him, I would have never settled down enough to read, even if I found the topic interesting. Then I wouldn't have understood a book written by the Yondaime and why he referenced a woman by the name of Kushina so much."

"Well . . .," Hiruzen didn't know where to take the rather awkward conversation from there. The young man had already explained himself in his office after all.

"I could use some help on the _Bunshin_," Naruto found that asking for help wasn't nearly as hard as it was in his youth when he would be denied.

"How so?" the Hokage had noticed the change in topic but ignored it.

"My reserves are too much for my control to handle," it was a credit to the blond that he didn't even look bashful at that admission.

"I might have something back in my office that will help," Sarutobi wanted to get out of the ruins before night fall. "That, and I have something else you need to know."

_**Graduation Day, 0800, Academy**_

Naruto Uzumaki may as well have been a zombie as he stepped into Iruka's domain for the last time. It wasn't the overload of learning the _Kage Bunshin_ –which, as it turned out, was the missing component to his other clones- that bothered the young man. No, learning of the passenger in his navel and just how his parents died had plagued his dreams the night before.

Really, if he was the _Kyuubi_ given human form was it such a great idea to anger him? Preposterous. It just demonstrated the level human stupidity can fall to.

Thoughts of revenge had surfaced in his mind for a moment, only to get brushed aside. It would be too easy to give in and slaughter everyone around him. He knew that in the end it would just leave a hollow feeling, no sense of satisfaction or accomplishment.

Proving people wrong, on the other hand . . . oh yes. There was much work to be done. His personality demanded no less, reinforced by the training of Cloud-Sensei.

But first, staying awake to get through this blasted Graduation Exam.

The written exam was a joke. Well, on the surface it appeared to be at any rate. Several of the questions were disguised in their wording, forcing him to use Gennin-level information gathering to get the correct answer without getting caught.

It was a Shinobi Academy. They were supposed to have some degree of stealth, at least enough to cheat under the nose of a pair of Chuunin who had to watch thirty students. Wait, make that thirty-one . . . where'd that pasty-looking kid come from?

Iruka had noticed Naruto looking around. He let it go since the blond was focusing on faces and not desks, apparently letting his mind wander aimlessly. His pencil was down and his test turned over, so it was of no consequence at this point if he was gazing around the room.

Mizuki also noticed, but for the same reasons couldn't say anything much to his ire.

The rest of the testing went smoothly, even with Naruto accidentally destroying the target dummy in the Thrown Weapons Exam. Upon a closer inspection, the kunai he had used were coated half in Earth chakra and the other half Wind. The combination had let the weapons pierce with ease before the harder Chakra delivered blunt force trauma that shattered the back of the dummy.

Ouch.

The brunette instructor made a note in the file that would wind up on the Hokage's desk about the boy's Elemental Chakra awakening and advising training so he didn't hurt an ally unintentionally.

The Final Exam was Ninjutsu.

"Look," Naruto started straight away once his turn was called. "You both know I have almost no control for the amount of Chakra I have. You both even know _why_," this caused their eyes to widen, "so instead of a regular _Bunshin_ I have the Elemental variants and _Kage Bunshin_ available."

"Make one of each and you'll get top marks," Iruka wanted to smack himself for forgetting about the blonde's humungous reserves. _Of course_ the boy would have no control with his Chakra being near the _Ichibi_! He conveniently ignored the subtle hint about knowing of his tenant for his own sanity. Instead he made another note in the file as one after another every clone known to Konoha –and a couple that were not- was paraded through the room.

"Where did you learn the _Kami Bunshin_?" he was compelled to ask, finding the Origami jutsu strange to say the least.

"In a book written by the Shodaime," was the quick answer. "One that for security purposes now sits in the Hokage's Office." Naruto did not miss the greedy gleam in Mizuki's eyes, giving away his intentions. A trip to see Jiji was in order then, right after class was dismissed.

"Excellent work Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka beamed, feeling pride for the improvements the blond had made even if he had only had a minor hand in them. "Send in Ino then wait with the rest of the class."

Grabbing a black-clothed hitae-ate, he defied logic contorting around himself to tie it to his right bicep. He surprised the pair of instructors when from one of his many pockets he produced another that had the symbol of _Uzushiogakure_ before tying it to his left arm.

Being that it was once his mother's, he felt that having this to honor her by was a good start.

"Ino, you're up," Naruto's announcement drew the attention of the room to his person. Jaws dropped upon seeing him with two protectors, one on each bicep. It was easy to see the village logos, which led to confusion on the _Uzushio_ headband.

"What the hell are you doing Naruto?!" Sakura screeched, acting offended for only she knows why. The entire class felt his displeasure when he glared at her, subconsciously leaking Killing Intent.

"This was my mother's," his right hand gestured to his left arm. "I only found out about her _last night_-,"

"So it's true then," Sasuke had to make a barb, unable to resist the opening he believed he saw. "You really are the spawn of some two-bit foreign whore who no doubt abandoned you-," he suddenly stopped, taking in the massive zanbato a hair away from his face. Leaning back a little, he was able to make out the pair of ANBU and the Hokage that were holding Naruto . . . apparently with great difficulty.

"Fuck you Uchiha scum!" the blond roared, causing the Chuunin Instructors to come running into the room. "That fucking infection you dare call a _Doujutsu_ was the reason the damned _Kyuubi_ appeared inside the Wall! You sons of bitches killed my parents! If it's the last thing I do, I'll see that damned eye destroyed!"

Breaking the grips on his person, Naruto leapt towards the window sword first. His arm moved, slicing the glass without breaking it causing the pane to fall away before leaping out of the Academy.

"If you ever, and I mean _ever_," Sarutobi looked as mad as the blond that just left, "refer to the _Konoha no Aka Shi_ as what you did again . . . damned the consequences, I'll kill you myself. Am I understood?"

Sasuke Uchiha merely grunted, trying to shake off the fear he felt. Where did he get off, either of them, thinking they could threaten his pure pedigree of a person?

"Be glad I was watching Iruka, otherwise you'd have a bloodbath in here," the Sandaime ignored the disrespect, making a note to have the Uchiha Survivor checked again by the shrinks. Something had to have been missed for the boy to get this big an ego . . . ah. Damn Civilians.

Well, at least with Danzo thinking that he was being a smooth operator placing a protégé of his in the Exam the numbers were skewed enough to allow the Hokage to avoid the headaches having Sasuke near Naruto would cause. In fact, as he thought about it while heading back to his office, what he had a brainwave for ought to really put a bee in the Civilian's bonnet.

It was good to be Hokage . . . some of the time. Mostly.

_**Woods to the east of Konoha, 0030**_

"Ahhh, nothing quite says anger management like some random destruction," Naruto was surprised by how long it had taken him to calm down after Uchiha flapped his jaw. Really, he was thankful that Sarutobi had stopped him from doing something he would have regretted later.

As Cloud-sensei once said, '_It's pointless to kill stupid people. More just take their place._'

Having worked his aggression out via remodeling the forest, he set back for home when he came upon an unexpected sight.

"-did you steal the Forbidden Scroll?!" Iruka barked, masking the pain he was in thanks in part to the weapons of the trade that were piercing his body in non-vital areas.

"Why else?" Mizuki was doing his best to be sibilant and sinister. Instead his tone was coming off as that of a follower, someone who had lost their mind somewhere along the line in exchange for letting their greed get the better of them. "The Scroll and the book the Demon found interest my new employer greatly, thus to secure my new position I am going to give them as gifts."

"This is madness!" the brunette felt like screaming as his supposed friend turned traitor.

"Meh, if that blond piece of shit was here I'd gladly break his spirit by telling him of the Kyuubi," at his words the forest went quiet, as if in disbelief that somebody could be that stupid. Both Chuunin, Academy Instructors or not, noticed the change almost instantly and started warily looking around as if expecting the Sandaime to appear from nowhere at the breaking of his law.

Iruka was also of the mind that Naruto himself might be nearby and heard that, which could lead to far more serious consequences.

'_I'm glad Jiji told me yesterday,_' said blond thought while doing his best to keep his emotions in check. It was one thing to be professional in the face of anything and quite another to be like those Né characters that he had noticed a couple of times 'trying to blend in'. Deciding to handle the situation himself, as the former-Sensei had dug his own grave, he moved out of the shrubbery.

Neither Iruka nor Mizuki noticed the appearance of the topic of their 'discussion', each focused on the feeling of doom that had settled in the clearing. Young Uzumaki had been trained by one of the best swordsmen of his time, coupled with what he had dug up on the Seven from Kiri. He had been fascinated by the Silent Killing technique and worked himself into the ground figuring out ways to improve it.

Zabuza Momochi used dense fog and mist as a medium to assist his rather impressive usage of the assassination technique. Naruto took it one step further, having unintentionally recreated a jutsu of his Godfather.

Invisible to the naked eye and moving silently, neither Chuunin knew he was there until Mizuki's head fell off of his body. Even then, Iruka could not see who –or what, as he feared- had just ended the traitor's life until with a ripple-effect he phased back into being.

"Are you all right, Sensei?" his quiet voice broke the quiet of the clearing, bringing the sounds of a forest at night back into the foreground. At first it seemed like a roar in the quiet, until the noises were tuned out in favor of focusing on each other.

"I've been better," the scarred man gave a weak chuckle, his heart-rate finally starting to slow to normal. "What about you?" he wasn't about to state the obvious in this situation.

"My . . . private Sensei . . . he taught me much," the blond had picked up the Scroll and the book from where the traitor had dropped them. "One of those things, was that you have to steel yourself sometimes and do something that you find distasteful yet will prevent disaster of any type in the future."

He finished his statement with a scowl at the head of Mizuki before it vanished into a containment scroll, that array next to another that had the kanji for 'Body' in its' center.

The brunette was rather impressed by the rather clinical way the younger man had taken care of 'cleaning up'. With the intact head and body, the Intelligence Division could learn much from the traitor postmortem. The only thing left to do was report in to the Hokage at this point.

"Did you hear him?" was thrown out on a whim, as it had temporarily been pushed aside for other matters.

"It doesn't matter," Naruto threw the other man's right arm over his shoulders, "because Jiji told me yesterday."

Well, that explained that . . .

TBC

Here it is, an attempt to get back into the flow of writing. My profile has the reasons for my absence of late, to which I do apologize.

_**POST NOTE:**_ Cloud, _First Tsurugi_ and the Materia are the extent of the crossover. I got part of the idea for this from the beginning of _Advent Children_, when Nanaki (Red XIII) roars at the Midgar ruins five hundred years in the future. At that time, the land around it was in the process of reclaiming the city . . . which suspiciously started to look like a plateau. So, add in a second calamity –the Juubi- reshaping the land, the Life-stream rising up at the direction of the Rikudo Sennin and the ingredients are there for this.

Two thumbs way, WAY, WWWAAAYYY up for the readers and reviewers. Without them, writing would be boring as all get!

Ja!


	2. Part Two

Disclaimer: I make no claims at ownership of any copyrighted characters, places or events used herein. The only thing I make a claim to is this fic, which originated in my head and any original characters created by me herein. The following was made for public consumption at zero profit, and is not for sale except to the owning companies. Yes, I dream big.

_**Special Notes:**_ As a reminder, unless I state otherwise the characters are in their canon outfits. In this piece, the sole exception is Naruto at this point due to dressing quite similar to Cloud yet not underestimating how useful pockets are . . . well, that and how he lugs Materia around.

The Maelstrom Chronicles, Part Two

By: (Driver) Jim Ohki

_**Team Assignment Day; 0800; Monday June 10, 15 AK**_

"I'm proud of all of you," Iruka Umino beamed at his class, meeting for the last time for the long-awaited Team Assignments. Most of the room, he knew, would wash out of the Elite 'fast-track' program and be sent to the 'grunt' forces. Even fewer of those that failed the Jounin-Sensei test would rise through the ranks, actually making something of a name for themselves.

In a way, this class just wasn't fair. With seven heirs –eight, if the rest of the room knew of Naruto's heritage- only a couple of civilian-born were going to get time in the spotlight. Thinking of that while giving his speech, the Chuunin Instructor looked down at his clipboard before mentally frowning. He did not like what he was seeing, but as team placements were designed by the Hokage –with input from a few sources- there was not much he could do.

The odd number would usually mean one of the class –the closest to the infamous _Dobe_ position without being such- would have to hang around for six months with the next group in training. Unfortunately that spot was held by Kiba Inuzuka as Sai, being a late entrant, had been bestowed the Dead Last spot. That meant a suitable solution was necessary and the Hokage had apparently found one.

Naruto was doing his best to mask his nervousness. Having been trained by a true soldier of war, his entire body was giving off the air of indifference to the rest of the room. He had counted heads as Iruka started talking and found a problem in the form of the odd numbers. He was well aware of the populace's disliking of his existence, and just knew that if those with the political power wanted to they could delay his entrance into the Corps. As the teams were named, his heart fell the more time that went by without hearing his name.

"Team Seven," while he didn't understand his Boss' thinking, Iruka still had a job to do, "Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Sai under Jounin Kakashi Hatake."

'_Yes!'_ Naruto was still not showing anything, even if he was ecstatic at not having to deal with the Brood-King and his Howler Monkey. The emotionally dead Sai was still too much of an unknown, as even his insults were rather weak.

"Team Eight: Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuuga under Jounin Kurenai Yuhi."

'_FAIL!'_ the blond just knew that team was going to have issues. Nothing against Hinata or Shino, it was Kiba that was going to let his base instincts free in an attempt to assert himself as the dominate force. May Kami have mercy on his soul if he made a play on Hinata or Kurenai –the name was obviously female- for Naruto most certainly would not when he found out.

"With Team Nine still being active from the last batch, Team Ten: Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akamichi and Ino Yamanaka under Jounin Asuma Sarutobi."

Insert whining from the blond female here.

'_Epic Fail.'_ now that was an unmotivated group right there. That was all the thought Naruto could give to that bunch as his suspicions were confirmed. Although, why is it that the ranks of the Team Sensei were given? It was obvious that nobody under that rank would have students.

"Team Eleven," Iruka surprised the class as he kept talking. "Naruto Uzumaki under . . ."

His trail off caught the interest of all, as the entire class –including the boy mentioned- leaned forward in anticipation of a doozy.

"Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi."

Silence, for but a moment.

"Fuck yeah!" Naruto leapt into the air, right fist raised in victory. There was no way he was going to hold that in, no matter the circumstances. It also answered why the Jounin's had their ranks given as somebody _above_ them was taking a student. This was a most welcome surprise as he had thought that it would be another six months of waiting before getting out in the field.

The outburst of the blond had reset the brains of the others, most sitting back in awe that the pariah was going to get one-on-one instruction from _The Professor_. The Uchiha-Deserves-All Fan Club on the other hand started bellowing at maximum volume about it being unfair that the 'idiot' got something their precious did not. Said person was shocked into immobility, even if his expression gave away nothing.

Well, most of the Club. The only member known to have a brain outside of all things Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka, was giving an appraising look in Naruto's direction. There were far too many interesting secrets surrounding the boy for her to ignore, and his appeal had only gone up as his indoor volume went down.

The irony went right over her head in regards to indoor voices.

"**SIT DOWN AND BE SILENT!**" roared Iruka, Big-Head set to fill the entire blackboard area. He ignored the fact that there was wind-swept hair left in the wake of his own shouting. "These teams were picked by Hokage-sama himself. If you have a problem with them, take them up with him at your own peril."

That shut the room up as nobody was fool enough to bark at their leader and expect to get away with it. Even the inflated ego of Sasuke quailed in the man's presence, something which bothered him to no end as he was an Uchiha and deserved everything everybody else had that he wanted.

"Now," order had been restored promptly, allowing Iruka to finish his task, "in one hour your Senseis will be coming to pick you up. Until then go get a bite to eat, spend some time with your new teammates and get to know each other. Be back here before they arrive."

_WHOOSH_

Naruto was gone in an instant, his departure leaving fluttering clothing in his wake. Iruka had braced himself behind his desk as the blond took off for . . . probably the Hokage Tower, now that he thought about it. Either there or Ichiraku's, whichever brain was in charge of his body at the time.

Since the Academy was attached to the Administration Complex, Naruto was in Sarutobi's office five seconds later. The man had felt his surrogate grandson coming, making a gesture at the door. The ANBU that had the bookcase today phased into being to open it before the yellow blur of hair –stirring up many memories of another fast moving blond- came to a sudden stop in front of the massive desk.

Young Uzumaki couldn't help the light laughter at what he saw.

The Sandaime had gone horizontal on his desk, turning himself into a living paperweight to prevent the sorted stacks from being blown away. The fact that his hat had been tossed across the room attested to the boy's backdraft.

"Leave us," Sarutobi ordered once he was upright while extending his senses. He was not about to have a leak for what he was truly doing, at least not yet.

"I know why you are here," he had collected his hat and sat in his chair to give Naruto one of the more serious looks he had. "Before I offer an explanation, I want you to understand that this is to be spoken to nobody else _but_ me. Not the Ichiraku's, not the Council . . . _nobody_. Am I understood?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the younger man had become as serious as the situation demanded. He had caught the subtle hint that the order went from the obvious enemies to the people closest to his heart.

"Good," an application of fire-natured chakra to the tobacco within had the pipe in his hand lit. "Now, you know that under normal circumstances with the odd numbers the one not assigned to a team –no matter the class rank, but traditionally the second to Dead Last- would have to wait six months for the next graduating class. This is not an option for you due to the next four classes being comprised of civilians."

Naruto scowled, understanding what his Jiji was saying without it actually being said. The class with the Heirs was his only true chance to get into the ranks, lest those that had a beef with the _Kyuubi_ trying something stupid by holding him back even longer. That, and to be surrounded by entire rooms of kids who had been told to avoid his person . . . he couldn't suppress the shudder.

"I see you _do_ understand the severity of the situation," the Sandaime wouldn't admit it, but he had to apply every trick he had learned in his long career to get a read on the blond. The kid had developed one hell of a poker face since he had been taken under the wing of his probable ancestor. "That being said, everybody knows that I am far too busy to do full time training of a student forget an entire team. What I did was create a legal fiction of Team Eleven, meaning that when I have the time I will be training you. Beyond that, your missions will either be solo or as an attachment to the teams that are in service. Do not break my trust in you to behave, Naruto. Your actions now personally reflect on me."

"Hai, Sensei," he wasn't about to argue his first lesson, even if it was in politics. The blond could see the underlying statements for what they were. He was being given a massive responsibility, one that even the Sannin had not.

Being simply pointed in a direction straight out of the gate.

"Good," Sarutobi was pleased that the hidden Namikaze had looked underneath the underneath to find the first lesson he had wanted to impart. "Now, it's time for lunch."

His answer was a growl from Naruto's stomach that suspiciously sounded like '_FFFFOOOODDDD!_'.

_**Three Weeks Later; July 1, 15 AK; 0800; Mission Hall**_

"Hn," the Uchiha Noise of a Thousand Words drifted across the room, earning various expressions for his efforts. Most were simply raised eyebrows in amusement that the boy dared to think he could persuade the Hokage into a tougher mission. A few were in agreement with the boy, wanting him out in the field making a name for himself and showing that the village still had power.

Three and a half expressions were deadpan glares while the last visible person in the room looked like he was trying to take a dump right then and there.

"Fine," Sarutobi had much experience with decoding the Noise of the Uchiha. The boy took after his father in more ways than one after all. "Send in the client waiting in Room Two please."

For his part, Naruto just continued to stare at the current Rookie of the Year from the right end of the desk. Those that had dealt with his father at one point or another were sweating at the look patented by Minato Namikaze being an apparent passable trait, even if they didn't know he was the Yondaime's son.

The unnerving stare continued, even with the arrival of Tazuna and the ruckus he caused at seeing his 'hired help'.

"Naruto will be going with you," was the surprise statement from the Hokage, bringing all eyes to his person. He knew it took a lot to actually make a Namikaze angry but when they were Hell Hath No Fury. While his 'current student' acted a lot like his mother, his beliefs were of his father . . . alongside what used to happen when the Yondaime got mad.

Iwa knew the results.

"Hai, Sensei," Naruto's voice carried a sense of authority with it, even if it was just loud enough to reach all corners of the room. His eyes swiveled over to the client, who was trying to act tough but was giving away some sure tells that this mission was not what it seemed. He watched as the man took a drink of his sake for a boost in courage. His eyes were darting all over the room, as if expecting to be attacked that very instant. Now that the blond was focused on the older man, he could even see the sweat trailing down the sides of his neck to which he used the alcohol to mask the scent.

This guy has dealt with Shinobi before.

The 'current student' of the Sandaime gave his teacher a look that said '_We've been had_' which was responded with another glance '_Understood_'.

"Kakashi, give me a moment to amend the mission scroll," Sarutobi kept the same tone he had, that of a gentle leader believing he was sending a team out on a milk run. He was quick to add several instructions to the bottom, even if the silver-haired man was reading as he wrote.

"I take it Naruto is to handle the . . . _extracurricular_ activities?" the Jounin pitched his voice so only his boss and protégé heard him.

"Hmmm," was the sound of agreement that the Hokage made, even as he sprinkled some dust on the wet ink to prevent smudging. Once everything was in order and the scroll disappeared somewhere on Hatake's person did he turn his attention back to Team Seven. "Set out for Nami no Kuni at once. Upon arrival Naruto has a different assignment to accomplish while you will be guarding the client until his work is done." Left unsaid was the '_Or he's dead_'.

_**Four Hours Later; Southern Route from Konoha to Nami no Kuni**_

'_Oh, here's a failure so bad it falls out of the range of Epic and into Stupid_,' Naruto thought as the group approached a . . . puddle of water in a place one shouldn't exist. Really, how dumb must one be? _Hi no Kuni_ was in its' seasonal dry-spell, for no rain had fallen in over a week and the sun was not obscured by storm-clouds. That immediately identified the assailant(s) as Suiton users, for only they thought that hiding in a puddle was a good idea. It didn't answer any of the more pressing issues, but was still a dead giveaway.

All three Gennin of Team Seven walked right on by the fake puddle without a second look.

'_And there's my answer to dumb_,' the blond wanted to smack each in the back of the head and point at the puddle-that-was-not.

It took far more than Kakashi would ever admit to keeping even his eye-smile off his face as he felt the subtle spiking of Killing Intent from the extra on the mission. Although, now it would be pointed out to the Hokage that he had been lax in teaching his students . . . anything, really beyond teamwork.

Crap.

"**Bolt**."

There wasn't much point in letting whomever was in that fake puddle get any confidence of their abilities. The rest of the group turned around to look at Naruto, who was scowling at the now smoking puddle that he had yet to pass. As if by magic –or rather, the chakra that had sustained the hiding spot being cut off- two bodies were unceremoniously strewn about on the road.

"Idiots." Who that was directed at would be debatable, for his glare had gone from the duo on the ground to Team Seven to the client. Then he did something completely new to those not of Jounin rank by looting the crispy bodies for whatever good stuff they had.

"Really, Dobe? Are you _that_ poor?" Sasuke felt words come out of his mouth that were plainly spoken for once and not a grunt. It was annoying to the Uchiha that every time the blond was around he couldn't for the life of him keep to the Noise of a Thousand Words.

"Kakashi, have you taught them _nothing_?" Naruto ignored the attempt at a barb, instead putting the Sensei of Team Seven in the spotlight. "Any Shinobi worth their salt loots the bodies of their enemies, for one never knows what they'll find. Like the gear these two had. _Demon Brothers_, eh? Piece of cake."

"Kiri _nuke-nin_, how lovely," the sole Jounin drawled, his eye focused on their client. The man was acting even more suspicious, even if the pair that had poorly concealed themselves never had a chance to launch their ambush.

The story poured from Tazuna's mouth faster than he drank sake in his terror of being abandoned for lying about the mission. He was surprised that the Jounin and the attachment to the mission appeared to have . . . expected this? Two of the other three kids were being more emotional about the situation. One was unsure about her abilities and the other acted like he had a giant chip on his shoulder to prove himself. The other boy was grinning stupidly, almost as if waiting for orders and nothing else.

"**Fire**."

And then there was the blond who just incinerated the bodies of his kills after getting his loot under the eye of the team leader.

"We're continuing the mission," Kakashi announced, having talked to his team when the client wasn't paying attention. "Be on guard, all of you. Those two were working for somebody so we should expect stiffer resistance as we go."

_**July 2, 15 AK; **_**Nami no Kuni**_** shores, 1000**_

So far no other enemies had set up another poor attempt at an ambush. Not that it helped Team Seven relax in their guard duty in the least. All three Gennin had their senses extended as far as they could go, trying too hard to compensate for their failure to spot something so outrageously out of place the day before.

"That fog is getting thicker," Naruto mumbled, only Kakashi hearing him as the others weren't focusing on the interior of their formation.

"Looks like a _Kirigakure no Jutsu_," he had to agree with the tag-along. The natural morning fog had about burned off as the sun trekked higher into the sky, so a rather sudden dense pocket signified one thing.

"Incoming!" Team Seven plus client hit the dirt at the bark of the Jounin while Naruto simply looked amused. Really, some of what Cloud-sensei had taught him should be standard in the Academy such as Weapons Catching.

"Oh, very nice," the blond examined the blade he had snagged out of mid-air, even as he turned to where it was headed. He almost cracked up at the sight of a man coming out of _Shunshin_ only to realize his targeted landing zone wasn't there.

"Give me my sword," the man growled through his mouth wrap after clinging –via his left limbs, looking like a monkey- to the tree to save himself from a fall.

"I can sum up my answer in one word," Naruto countered, left hand raised with index finger pointing upwards. "Loot."

A roar of rage from the swordsman was his eloquent response to the wit as he launched himself from the tree. He suddenly contorted into a rather uncomfortable position to avoid his own blade taking his head off. The surprise of a child knowing how to handle such a large weapon put a cap on his anger letting him think.

"_Kage Bunshin_," and now the clearing had twenty blond kids armed with a zanbato. The so far unintroduced assailant didn't see the five that vanished into the woods.

"Kakashi, what have they been teaching in that village of yours?"

"Zabuza Momochi. This is a rather unwelcome surprise," the silver-haired man ignored the question to subtly give the Gennin information. The banter of the pair allowed Naruto to maneuver himself into an optimal position to attack while at the same time being leery of the water.

"Let's dance," he broke into the conversation, each hand occupied by a zanbato. In his right hand was _Kubikiribocho_, in his left _First Tsurugi_. His stance was odd, the left-hand sword being held across his back as he charged in to battle. Once again nobody had noticed where he pulled his primary blade from.

The Gennin of Team Seven ushered their client into the trees as the action started, catching the sounds of another fight above their heads.

"Whoa!" Zabuza produced a pair of kunai from somewhere and was fighting for his life. He had never come across this style before, which was amplified by the second zanbato. Every time he blocked one the other was coming around with more power than the previous, on a different vector testing his reflexes to the extreme.

"There you are," the blond casually commented to the fake _Hunter_ that had just dropped down out of the trees to fight back-to-back with his master. Both Kiri-nin were bleeding from various slashes and wounds.

"We must withdraw," a rather feminine voice came from behind the mask, making Naruto reconsider his assumption on which gender the accomplice was. "He's too good-!"

"That's enough of that," eight Narutos drawled in stereo, creeping everybody out.

"Give. Me. My. Sword." Zabuza wasn't about to abandon his blade, for more than sentimental reasons. The blades of the Seven had a sentience of their own, always picking their wielders instead of the other way around. It was a secret of Kiri, one that even those that had abandoned their village wouldn't reveal, that if one were to leave his weapon behind it would choose a new wielder.

"Loot-Loot-Loot-Loot." the blond mocked, the entire exchange taking place while the three fought for supremacy. He had a chance as the pair were back-to-back, spinning around in place to verify which team Haku belonged to as the fake Hunter was directly in front of him.

"_HOW DARE YOU KICK MY CROTCH!_" she tried to roar which was more of a squeak of indignation and pain.

"Just testing a theory, sorry," why he lied about being apologetic even he would never figure out. It wasn't that important as his little experiment had enraged Zabuza again, which he took note of. The man may act tough, but he still had a heart after all.

Nobody noticed when he switched swords, _First Tsurugi_ now occupying his right hand while his stolen 'loot' was in his left. With a mighty heave he performed an overhead slash, discharging the built up energy.

"Holy-!" the duo from Kiri dove for cover as a crescent-shaped beam chewed up the landscape as it passed by. Team Seven, watching from the sidelines, also had to move as the attack sailed into the forest taking down trees for a good twenty meters.

"Haku . . . come," Momochi had enough of this encounter, knowing that Kakashi was lurking somewhere nearby waiting for the opportune moment to take one of them out. He was also aware that his decision cost him _Kubikiribocho_ on a more permanent basis.

The pair vanished in a _Shunshin_, leaving a panting Naruto staring at the spot they once occupied. Yes, he had at least gotten a stalemate out of that battle but it showed him that he still had much to learn. That fight was grueling, far more than he had experienced in training.

"Dobe," and here comes the Uchiha, Jealousy set to Maximum.

"No. Fuck Haruno first and I'll think about it," he knew the power-hungry child wouldn't want to touch his female teammate unless he absolutely had to. He pointedly ignored said female off in fantasy land and the shell that was Sai. He was just getting his breathing under control, even if he was sweating buckets from his exertion.

"Just . . . get me home," Tazuna reminded them that they were in a live-fire mission and not some milk run in the village.

_**That Night; Tazuna's Home; 2030**_

"I don't honestly know if they'll be back," Kakashi was saying to the locals and his team. "Naruto fought both of them to a standstill, inflicting several wounds that take at least two weeks to heal properly even with medical attention. If nothing else for his honor Zabuza will try, at least once, to get his sword back once he is healed. I know his type; he won't send his partner out to do it as it would make him seem even weaker than he already perceives himself to be."

"Then I have training to do," the blond stretched but didn't move beyond that. "In the morning, that is. That fight was _brutal_, even if I have stamina in spades."

Enter Inari into the scene, brood on full display. It was even enough to make Sasuke, however briefly, question if that was what it looked like to outside observers before lightly scoffing and returning to his own . . . contemplations.

Naruto tuned the child out completely, even his shouting about some such or other. He had a secondary mission assigned in tandem to the Protection Detail, one that was now completely justified having heard the story from the locals.

Gato must die.

But first, time for scouting with clones while the real him did some training. In the morning, when he was recovered at any rate.

In a way, Kakashi missed the old Naruto. This new one was a much better Shinobi yet was just . . . too cold to his surroundings. While he didn't actively push people away he rarely spoke up anymore, unless directly spoken to. Even then he gave the bare minimum to pay lip-service to polite conversation and that was it. While he had no direct interaction with the _Jinchuuriki_ in his youth he had watched the kid causing havoc and mayhem wherever he went.

That came to a rather abrupt halt when he was eight. Since then, even if he had an emotional outburst from time-to-time, the blond was a calm and collected individual. The resemblance to his Sensei Minato Namikaze had solidified as he grew, including the fears of what would happen if the boy actually lost his temper.

The silver haired Jounin shuddered, having been there to see the results.

_**Two weeks later, July 16; 1100**_

Naruto awoke to a commotion in the lower level of the house, causing him to mentally curse and thank Kakashi for not waking him up when Team Seven followed their client out to the bridge. It was a calculated risk, gathering excessive amounts of intel while letting the scumbag that had ruined the land roam free.

That risk was about to pay off, now that his top lackeys were on their own mission of mayhem.

Out on the path that was built over the marsh, the thugs were chuckling to themselves for a job well done. They had the builder's daughter while her son was sitting in a corner cowering in fear. They heard a noise from the direction of the house, only to find the kid they had thought scared into submission charging them while a rather large knife in hand.

Just the distraction Naruto needed.

The blond appeared behind the duo, who were not paying attention to their surroundings. Once Tsunami dropped he swung his ill-gotten gain in a perfect arc, taking both men's heads off.

"Good, Inari," praise was needed here after the way the child had been acting. "Overcoming one's fears is never easy, yet you did so to save what is precious to you. This is what Kaiza felt when he stood up to Gato, even when he knew it had cost him his life. He stared his fear in the face and did what he thought was right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I do believe the bridge is under attack."

_**Unnamed Bridge; Ten Minutes Later**_

"Foolish little Uchiha," Naruto grumbled, taking in the situation. That weirdo Sai was down for the count, looking like a porcupine due to the multitude of senbon in his body. He could feel Sakura fairly far off, next to Tazuna as a guard even if she was fairly useless in this conflict. Kakashi and Zabuza were playing tag in the rather thick mist, if their banter was any indication.

Sasuke had let the chip on his shoulder dictate his actions, taking on Haku and getting his ass handed to him.

That wasn't all his senses were telling him. Off of the unfinished end of the bridge, waiting in a barge, were a couple hundred mercenaries and Gato himself.

Feh, all too easy.

"Damn that blond!" Zabuza roared, losing the fight rather badly since he was reduced to using a training zanbato in place of his lost blade. The weapon was not truly meant for combat, being unbalanced and not of the quality he was used to.

"I do believe you have better things to worry about," Kakashi drawled from his position in the mist, using Zabuza's own 'voice throwing' against him.

"Done already?" heralded the arrival of Haku, looking worse for the wear and panting heavily.

"Hai, Zabuza-sama. The Uchiha was not easy to subdue."

That simple statement froze the Jounin of Team Seven for just a moment, before his ANBU training kicked in shunting the cold rage he felt into his chakra.

"Let me guess, you left him alive as usual?" Zabuza unwittingly saved the life of his adopted daughter, who was about to be impaled by a kunai in Kakashi's left hand.

"He is not the objective," the _Hyoton_ wielder sounded miffed at being called out on showing mercy. "While he _was_ in the way of our goal, he has been subdued and is of no more consequence."

"Zabuza, you imbecile!" a new voice called through the mist, surprising those that heard him bar a certain blond. "I ask for one simple thing, give you a small fortune to do it and yet it's still not done?!"

Naruto had to be quick to hide, clinging to the side of the bridge as the dense mist lifted revealing Gato and his merry band of mercenaries.

"Oh well," the short man grinned maliciously, both hands resting on the head of his cane. "I never did plan to pay you the rest of the money. That's what these guys are for," a gesture at the thugs around him, "after all. Nobody cares if a PMC such as mine takes down a _nuke-nin_. So instead oflosing money on a venture that is not profitable, I'll make money off of your corpse and by selling your little assistant to, say, Otogakure. The rest of the females my men will have their fun with before disposing of the trash properly."

On one end of the bridge was Gato and his army. Near the middle was Kakashi, Zabuza and Haku –whom had been busy, moving the unconscious members of Team Seven. The completed end had Sakura, Tazuna, Sasuke, Sai and the villagers that had just heard the threat of their oppressor.

Naruto had enough.

The appearance of the blond, between the Jounins and the enemy, silenced those watching. His expression was serious, mouth set in a thin line frown with his brows furrowed inward ever-so-slightly.

Kakashi shuddered. It was the look his Sensei had when word of what Iwa was doing to civilian villages had reached his ears.

Behold, an angry Namikaze.

With a robust twirl, _Kubikiribocho_ attached itself to his back before his hands clapped together, pointed at the enemy.

"**Diamond Dust**."

Strange spheres with kanji appeared from nowhere, sailing into his person before he seemingly faded from existence. In his place was a floating, ten foot tall blond woman that for all intents and purposes was nude save for a tiny purple wrap across her breasts and hips.

"Shiva!" Haku gasped, seeing yet not believing that the Patron of the Yuki Clan was present.

The woman held her right arm up, palm up which started drawing in the ambient moisture in a radius of seven feet. With a gesture, the sphere in her palm broke apart into tiny motes that looked like diamonds.

Gato and his army, on the other hand, were flash-frozen by the rather large boulders made out of ice that appeared from where the motes hit. The ice shattered, dropping the bodies to the undamaged bridge.

The onlookers, including the awakened yet immobile Sasuke and Sai, could only gawk at the sheer power the blond had at his command. He had just mercilessly slaughtered a couple hundred men with rape and mayhem on their mind.

"We're . . . free," one of the villagers whispered, dumbstruck by such a notion.

"FREEDOM!" roared another that had heard the nearly silent comment, feeling the weight of the world life off of his shoulders.

"Scum," Naruto ignored the sudden celebration going on behind him to punt Gato's body off of the unfinished end into the channel below. Let the sharks have their feeding frenzy.

"Grandpa, you're safe!" Inari cried, overjoyed that the man would live to see another day.

"Oh father!" Tsunami bawled into his right shoulder, the events leading up to this moment finally breaking her barriers.

"Give me my sword!" Zabuza reminded the crowd he was there as he made a blind charge at the blond standing by himself after chucking the last corpse off of the right side of the bridge.

"Naruto!" Kakashi needlessly yelled as the target of ire was well aware of the incoming threat.

The former Swordsman, although still a patriot, was so blinded by his rage that he missed the boy pulling a kunai out of his holster, which was on the side turned away from him. With the weapon in a reverse grip, he swayed backwards as the taller man sailed by overhead before twisting his right wrist to bring the knife around and plunge it into Zabuza's heart from under his left arm.

"No! Zabuza-sama!" Haku arrived seconds too late as she held the dying body of her everything.

"Haku, you silly girl," he coughed. "Now I die with honor, having lost in a battle and not by being stabbed in the back." He ignored the bad timing of the pun. "You're my legacy, my everything. I never told you how much you meant to me, and I should have."

"Don't leave me . . . father," she whimpered, clutching his body tightly.

"Can't help you with this one, daughter," this time, blood poured out of his mouth when he coughed. "Damn, he got my lung too. Listen to me, go with them and live. You're strong enough to survive out in the world. Follow your own dreams now, Haku."

"Father!" her tears were like snow, gently falling on his face.

"Boy!" the last outburst he could make he directed at the one that got him good. "Promise me you'll take care of her!" The energy he used to bark at the blond only sped up his own demise.

"Hai," was the simple answer from Naruto, who was staying far enough back to give them 'space'.

"Mei . . . Terumi . . . tell her, I remember . . .," were his last words as his body relaxed, eyes sliding shut.

"NO!" Haku howled to the sky, causing a localized snowstorm in her emotional state.

"We'll bury him, with honor," Naruto knelt next to the distraught girl who promptly turned and engulfed him in a hug as she bawled. She didn't care at the moment that this was the one that had ended her father in all but blood. She had seen the whole thing, he had only defended himself from the attack. He continued, awkwardly rubbing her back with his left hand, "Help me here."

_**July 22, 15 AK; Unnamed Bridge; 1000**_

"That's it then," Tazuna smiled as the bridge officially opened for business, connecting the lands of _Hi_ and _Nami_ together.

"Our mission is done here," Kakashi agreed, speaking for his team. They were standing a bit closer to the end of the bridge, waiting on their Sensei to get a move on. It was rather rude on their part, but as they were short one they had to wait for him.

"We're ready," Naruto appeared from nowhere, Haku in tow. "Just had to tie up a few loose ends."

"Well then, we best be off!" the silver-haired Jounin eye-smiled, creeping the two latecomers out. Who does that, anyway? As one Team Seven and their extras took off for home, leaving the land of _Nami no Kuni_ free of their oppressors.

"We need a name for the bridge," Tazuna rubbed his chin, as his latest work was more like a monument than 'just a bridge'.

"Nothing with Super in it, father," Tsunami teased, watching the backs of the Shinobi as they left the bridge before leaping into the trees.

"Sugoi, Naruto's the greatest!" Inari had his hero-worship on full blast. "Someday, I'm gonna grow to be as strong as he is!"

"Bridge . . . Naruto . . . Great," the old man mumbled, before snapping his fingers. Raising his voice and the champagne bottle in his left hand he made his choice. "I christen thee: **The Great Naruto Bridge**!"

With a clatter of broken glass the bottle spilled its' contents on the railing to the cheers of the villagers.

Tsunami smiled mysteriously, her right hand absently rubbing her lower abdomen. She was reminded of another blond man she had met, sixteen years previous. "It's a perfect name, father."

_**July 23; 1400**_

The trek back to the village was much faster without the civilian in their midst slowing them down. Team Seven didn't feel the urge to talk to their attachment or his extra for different reasons.

Sakura was scared by the power the blond the same age as her possessed. He had, without a second thought, slaughtered over two hundred men. Granted, they were spouting off at the mouth about what they wanted to do to her and the other females, but the sheer ferocity he showed was unreal. Then he sticks a kunai in Zabuza's ribcage, killing the man rather painfully. Haku she was unsure of, having spent zero time with the girl that had attached herself to Naruto's hip.

Sai needed orders from Danzo on how to proceed. What he had witnessed was beyond the scope of his programming to deal with, thus he simply observed and listened to provide as much information as he could.

Sasuke . . . well, at first he was daydreaming about using the power of the blond to kill his brother in various ways, since that thought always dominated the forefront of his mind. Then it dawned on him that he had no idea how the Dobe had done what he did, causing a deeper brood than normal as he tried to come up with ways to learn his secrets.

Naruto had his own hands full at the moment.

"We should be arriving shortly," he subtly hinted that she needed to give him some space.

Haku, on the other hand, was internally laughing her ass off at the flustered blond. While she was mad at him for what he did to Zabuza, she had also known him to be there to help her through her loss. She also had the request of her late father to think on, which contradicted itself. He had told her to live her own life, yet asked the young man beside her to take care of her. Perhaps, that was his way of giving his blessing . . . in a roundabout, twisted Shinobi-honor kind of way.

How odd.

Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to scream and pull what was left of his hair out of his head when Team Seven –plus attachment- made their report. Kakashi was going to get his later, when the Gennin were not within earshot. Really, doing a mission with A-Rank difficulty with Fresh, Unbloodied soldiers? Was he asking for a demotion?

Then there was his own student, who had shown incredible power at the drop of a hat. When the Jounin repeated –word for word- what Gato and his lackeys had said, he had the pleasure of seeing the Angry Namikaze Face again.

To think, that wasn't the Truly Angry or even Furious face . . .

The Hokage shuddered, hoping that something would come along to keep those faces from surfacing. The last time he had seen the Furious face, five battalions of Iwa troops died in seventeen seconds.

"As per the amended orders," Naruto brought his Sensei out of his thoughts, "not only did I eliminate Gato and his upper echelon employees, I secured Gato Corp for Konoha minus a 'finder's fee' for myself and a 'recuperation fee' for the citizens of _Nami_, which should clear their debt to us on the mis-ranked mission."

"Good work, Team Seven," while it was directed more at Naruto who was not part of their squad, it had to be said as a show of professionalism. "I have some things to discuss with my student and his . . . new friend. You're dismissed."

Kakashi was quick to herd the Gennin out of the office, not even bothering to ask about increased pay as he had fumbled the mission entirely. It was actually against policy and procedure to take Unbloodied Gennin into a combat zone, a practice which has kept the fresh graduates alive longer.

"Now then, what shall I do with you?" Sarutobi's gravelly voice washed over the pair as soon as the door shut on the start of an Uchiha rant.

Apparently he _had_ noticed the lack of a pay or mission difficulty increase.

"The Council shall not touch her," Naruto gave the Annoyed Face, which was the first warning sign of the Angry Face. All that was missing was the furrowed eyebrows as his mouth set into the thin-line frown.

"You know as well as I that they'll . . . make some noise for show," the Sandaime lit his pipe, ignoring the frown of Haku at smoking indoors.

"Saving face and making noise is one thing," the blond kept his expression the same, showing that he was not amused. "If they make her cry . . ."

"Well, to put a stop to their nonsense I can instate her as a Gennin on your team," the Hokage suggested, seeing the newest resident to Konoha perking up for whatever reason. "It would put her under my authority, which would take a unanimous vote of the Shinobi and Civilian Councils to override. A vote that wouldn't happen since the Clans are not amused by the recent power-plays of their counterparts."

"Y'know, for a dictatorship this place sure feels like a democracy," the former resident of _Mizu no Kuni_ stage-whispered rather loudly to Naruto, making her point known.

"I prefer to think Capitalistic Totalitarianism," Sarutobi deadpanned, not amused at having his leadership slighted, however subtly.

Naruto stayed silent, knowing that this particular argument would not only go nowhere but was a rather sore spot for the Hokage. There was no chance he was going to get drawn into a fruitless debate, not when he had other and better things to do.

He may not bellow it to the Heavens anymore, but damn it all he needed his ramen fix pronto!

TBC

Meh, I aim for 10k words and end up with just over 7k. But, as that is a good stopping point before going into the next Arc it'll work for me. Yes, Naruto is damn near a Master Swordsman. He had SEVEN YEARS of extensive training under Cloud, which when one considers he learns by doing should be a clue as to how he should have been taught in Canon.

Materia power for the win!

Oh, before I forget and get a gazillion reviews about my style: If it happened in Canon, the reader should be familiar with the events I glossed over. I much rather write what was going on elsewhere/in the background as then I'm not just making filler.

Hats off to the readers/reviewers, who make this hobby worth it!

Ja!


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